Rationale:
Children must understand that letters can have more than one sound.This insight will aid students in the process
of decoding.Proficient decoding is
essential to becoming a fluent reader.This lesson will teach the correspondence i_e =
/I/ through identifying /I/ in words and practice in spelling
words that include the i_e grapheme.

Materials:
Letterboxes and letter manipulatives for each student and a large set
for the
teacher (with the letters: c, d, e, f, g, i, l, m, n, p, r, s); A class
set of
the book Di and the Mice; Chart with
the tongue twister—Ike and I ice our ice-skates—on it; worksheet with
pictures
of a kite, a frog, a bike, a hand, and a dime on it.

Procedures: 1.
Introduce the lesson by reviewing the sound that the letter i
makes.Ask for a volunteer to demonstrate the sound that i
makes. /i/.Explain that
today we’re going to talk about another sound that the letter i can make.In some words
the letter i says its name /I/.Let’s
say it together. I-I-I-I.This is called
the long I sound.Good.Now let’s point at our eye to remind us of
this sound.I-I-I-I (point to your eye).

2. Okay, now we’re going to say a tongue twister.Every time you hear the long I sound be sure
to point to your eye.Point to the chart
with the tongue twister “Ike and I ice our ice-skates” on it.Lead the recitation by stretching out all of
the sounds and pointing to your eye when you hear the long I sound.I-I-I ke and I-I I-Ice our I-I-Ice-skates.Good job.

3. Now I’m going to say a word and you see if the
long I
sound is in it.Time.Let’s stretch it out.T-I-I-I-me
(point to your eye).Does everybody hear
that?

4. Lots of times, in writing we know a word has a
long I
sound because of a silent e at the
end of the word.Write ‘tim’ on the
board and ask what the word is.Then add
an e to the end to spell time.Point out how adding the silent e
signals for us to say the long I sound.

5. Now we’re going to practice spelling some words
that have
the long I sound in them.Pass out the
letterboxes and the letters: c, d, e, f, g, i, l, m, n, p, r, s.Say, don’t forget each box is for a sound.If you need the silent e you
put it outside of the box—so that we know it’s there, but we
don’t hear it.

6. Put the large teacher version where all the
students can
see it.Say, let’s do a practice
word.The word is kite.Open three
letterboxes.As you pick up the letters
pronounce the phonemes./k/I/t/.Add the silent e to the end.Now model reading
a word for the students.Move the big
letters
around to spell dime.Say,
I see that the middle sound is /I/
because there’s an I and there’s also
an e at the end. The first sound is
/d/.So I have /d/I/.And the last sound is /m/. /d/I/m/. Dime.

7. Have the students use the letters and
letterboxes to make
the words side, lid, dime, ride, fine,
rid, crime, pride, grime.

8. Give the book talk: Have you ever seen a mouse?How did you feel?Afraid?Well, Di sees some mice in this book.Let’s see how she feels about them.Pass out copies of Di and the Mice
and ask students to get with a partner and take turns reading pages to
each
other.Both students should follow
along.

9. Walk around as students are reading and offer
assistance
as needed.

10. For assessment, hand out the worksheet with
pictures of
a kite, a frog, a bike, a hand, and a dime on it.As
a class, discuss what each picture
is.The students should color the
pictures that’s name has the long I sound in it.